World's End

Page 90

"My treasure, my treasure . . ." Harkonni sobbed. He crawled past me toward the pile of dung.

"Gedda!" Ang called. "Come on!"

I went back to the rover, almost running to get away from the sound of Harkonni's weeping.

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I

Dean feel it, I can almost smell it!" Ang said this morning.

He got us moving when it was barely dawn, he was so sure we'd find his treasure today. The fault broken terrain ahead of us was stained a rust red. He swore it would hold the solii formation.

He set the rover's tracer equipment to close-scan for the proper mineral compounds. He was so sure. . . .

The sky was filled with black and purple clouds, the way it often was in the late afternoons, turning the light washed badlands sullen and dark ahead. Lightning flickered and a few fat drops of rain pockmarked the dust on the windshield, making a promise the clouds never kept.

Thunder rolled over and around us like the laughter of the gods. And we came to the end of Ang's journey.

Ang was piloting, like he usually did--today he was even humming tunelessly. He'd never done that before.

Spadrin stole stale snapper biscuits from my plate while

I tried to eat standing up, pressed into a corner of the cab.

His eyes dared me to stop him. I didn't even care--the heat, the stink, the food poisoning, had killed my appetite days ago. Only Spadrin had any appetite left, like

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the animal he was.

Then suddenly the rover lurched to a stop, so abruptly that I lost my balance and knocked over Spadrin's bottle of ouvung. It spilled on his leg. He swore at me, and grabbed my wrist. "Clean it up, Gedda." He jerked me down; I saw his knife blade glint and then disappear. I 114

WORLD S END